Help Turn the 27 Club Into the 72 Club

Content Warning: Suicide

Kiwi suicide prevention hotline Lifeline is struggling. Because of a funding shortage, they’re missing one in four phone calls. That’s one in four Kiwis going without a potentially life-saving conversation.

DDB, Mango, and The Sweet Shop have donated their services to keep Lifeline running. Their new campaign, The 72 Club, aims to keep young Kiwis looking ahead. New Zealand has the highest youth suicide rate in the world. Overall, our rate of suicide is 15.6 people per 100,000. That’s twice as high as the U.S.’s rate, and nearly five times higher than Britain’s.

The 72 Club and its moving ‘piece of my heart’ video urges Kiwis to keep going. New Zealanders are famous for being stubbornly unemotional, and this is killing people. If someone asks you for help or says they’re feeling a little down – please, take it seriously.

Telling a young boy to “toughen up” instead of helping him can be lethal. Hundreds of parents around the country know this.